Donkeys, Elephants, The Lamb and His Sermon on the Mount

The sermon on the mount still fascinates me. Generations of dialogue between theologians concerning how to interpret sermon equally fascinates me. There are three things I would like to share. At the end I will attempt to make a connection with what I believe are the politics of Jesus and the politics of the USA. I will get after it by working out the Sermon on the Mount in three categories in this order: the end, the beginning, and the middle.

1. The End (Matthew 7:24-29). Jesus ends the sermon with what will become a Sunday School song. His conclusion leads me to believe that Jesus’ sermon isn’t merely about “understanding,” e.g. Martin Luther, but doing (the one who “hears and acts on these teachings of mine“). I’ll close the post with some observations on Jesus’ conclusion in a bit, but for now I think it is important to see his sermon as a…